OBJECTIVE: To describe the results of the application of a surveillance system for risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) based on telephone interviews (SIMTEL) in the Municipality of Botucatu (State of São Paulo). METHODS: A random sample (n=1,410) of the population aged 18 years and more, living in households with regular telephones was interviewed. Sampling was done in three stages: random selection of telephone lines from the telephone company's directory, selection of active home telephones and random selection of the household member who was 18 years old or over to be interviewed. The success rate of the system (interviews performed: selected eligible lines) was 86.9%, and the proportion of refusals was 5.8%. A questionnaire with 74 questions encompassing food consumption, physical activity, smoking habits, consumption of alcoholic beverages, recalled weight and height, and self-reporting of hypertension and diabetes was applied. Gross prevalence estimates on selected risk/protection factors for CNCDs were calculated for the adult population with telephone and fitted estimates for the city's entire population, taking into account the distribution according to age, gender and schooling of the city's total adult population as informed by the National Demographic Census of 2000. RESULTS: A high prevalence of overweight (46.7%) and sedentary life (578.9%) was observed. Differences between genders were found: men presented more consumption of alcoholic beverages, and women presented less physical activity in one or more days of the week. Among women, schooling was inversely correlated with obesity, overweight, sedentary life, low consumption of fruits, consumption of fatty meats, and smoking habits. Similar findings were observed for men, except for obesity and overweight. CONCLUSIONS: This SIMTEL experience confirmed the appropriate performance of the system in medium-sized cities in the state of Sao Paulo.
Health surveys; Health status monitoring; Chronic diseases; Epidemiology; Risk factors; Telephone; Chronic non-communicable diseases
